Teachers’ union loves school vouchers, but only for preschool

Among the most vociferous opponents of school vouchers, and school choice in general, are teachers’ unions. But the largest teachers’ union in Florida actually supports school vouchers — provided they stop at age 5.

A decade ago, the Florida Education Association pushed for creation of the state’s Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program. The program is essentially school vouchers for preschool. According to Ron Matus at Step Up for Students, 125,000 students now use the program to attend private preschools. About one-fifth of those students are at a religious preschool.

The union’s support for VPK was reiterated in an op-ed published Tuesday by the union’s president, Joanne McCall. She implies the program actually needs more funding.

For whatever reason, the union opposes school vouchers once a student is about to enter kindergarten. Not only that, but the union is actually challenging K-12 school vouchers in court, trying to get them declared unconstitutional. The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program is one of the largest school voucher programs in the country, with more than 78,000 students participating this school year. McCall doesn’t explain how the K-12 school vouchers are supposedly unconstitutional while the preschool vouchers are lawful, despite little difference between the two.

Both programs allow low-income students to choose a private school, even a religious school, if they please. The K-12 voucher program is funded by a government tax credit for corporations that donate to nonprofit organizations that give scholarships for private school tuition.

Expanding government funding for preschool is a top liberal priority on education. Apparently teachers unions find vouchers for preschool to be praiseworthy, but vouchers for K-12 schools are disastrous.

Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

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